


Hallucinations

by Katrina



Series: Katrina's H/C Bingo: Round 9 [2]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen, H/C bingo, Hallucinations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 20:03:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15468963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katrina/pseuds/Katrina
Summary: Sometimes, Cloud doesn't see the world in front of him.





	Hallucinations

Listening to Cloud cry out was enough to send Zack’s heart racing. 

The older man scrambled over, scooping his friend up into shaking arms. He wrapped Cloud up into a hug, one hand coming around the press against the blond’s mouth. 

“Shh,” he hummed, eyes darting towards the opening of the small cave they’d taken shelter in. He went silent, ears straining for any sound of the hunt. While Zack was pretty sure that his jump over the cliff had shaken pursuit for a bit, he didn’t want to risk discovery. 

Cloud thrashed in his arms, and mumbled something. Even with Zack being right there, he couldn’t figure out what Cloud was saying. It sounded panic stricken, though. Almost pleading to for Zack to let go. 

The way he spoke told Zack that Cloud wasn’t talking to him. There was a tone to it that he’d heard in the labs more than once. He hadn’t heard it from Cloud alone, either. Zack could admit, he’d made a few pleas like that as well.

“It’s okay, Spike,” he murmured, still watching the opening. “We’re not there anymore.” 

There was another plea, and this time, Zack heard him beg to be out of the tank. It made his heart hurt. Cloud definitely wasn’t talking to him. He was seeing the lab again. Not a dark, kind of damp cave. He saw a green glow and men who didn’t care that they were humans. Doctors who only saw them as test subjects, to toy with at will. 

Zack shuddered, and curled down to press his face against Cloud’s hair. “It’s safe, I promise. We’re not in the labs.” He continued to murmur the words into Cloud’s hair. Slowly, far too slowly for Zack’s taste, Cloud went quiet and began to relax. 

Oh, Zack wished his friend would wake up. It wasn’t even that their escape would be easier with both of them awake and aware. If Cloud woke up, it might be easier to keep him from seeing things that weren’t there. He might even respond better to Zack’s words if he knew for a fact Zack was the one holding him. 

This wasn’t the first time Cloud had hallucinated he was back in the labs. Even Zack had those flashes now and then. But he was able to move, and that gave him a more solid sense of reality than what Cloud was trapped in. 

Mako was bad like that. It tricked the mind, teased things that weren’t there. Being able to resist that was part of being a SOLDIER. Cloud would be able to do it, if he’d had a real chance at trying. 

For a person who had never received the first round of shots, being dumped into a Mako tank was usually lethal. Zack was thrilled that Cloud survived this, was still alive now. Still, it didn’t make his wordless pleas easier to bear. He didn’t know what Cloud was seeing behind those foggy eyes, though Zack wished he could make it easier for him.

He held the younger man when possible, letting him know with soft words and gentle touches that they were no longer captives.

Hopefully, that would be enough.


End file.
